Conventional methods for preparing dried beans require a relatively lengthy food preparation time prior to the bean being ready to consume. Efforts to overcome this disadvantage have included soaking beans in water with an optional pre-cook step followed by drying the beans, and packaging them for re-sale. Unfortunately, such attempts do not produce a totally acceptable food product.
Already known commercially available forms of beans suffer from several drawbacks. The three most well-known bean products are canned or retorted beans, dried beans or pre-cooked dried beans. All have certain significant disadvantages. While canned or retorted beans may require only five minutes of heating by the consumer, they lack desirable organoleptic qualities such as the flavor of freshly cooked beans. On the other hand, dried beans require an extensive preparation time: half-hour parboiling, then 8-16 hours of soaking and 1 hour cooking time. One commercially known compromise, pre-cooked beans, still requires about about 30 to 40 minutes of cooking. Unfortunately pre-cooked beans are usually cracked and also exhibit many splits and butterfly beans.
Further efforts to produce commercially packaged dried beans such as lima beans, pinto beans, navy beans, Great Northern beans, blackeye peas, lentils and soybeans are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,708. As described therein, the dried beans are hydrated in accordance with specific procedures employing a particular aqueous hydrating medium and then dried. The hydration procedure requires placing the dried beans into a vacuum vessel in the presence of the hydrating medium (about 2.5-5 times the weight of the beans), and repeatedly applying and releasing the vacuum for an extended period of time. The hydrating medium contains sodium chloride and a chlorating agent. Subsequent to the hydration, the beans are dried to between 9.5 to 10.5 percent by weight moisture content. Such beans are alleged to be quick-cooking.
Another attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,728, wherein the preparation of quick-cooking soybean products includes a brief boiling stage for about 0.5 to 2 minutes, followed by soaking the beans in a special hydration solution, and finally drying the beans. The beans are soaked for about 24 hours in a solution containing a salt, a chelating agent and optionally additional agents including a surface-active agent such as poyoxyethylene sorbitan palmitate and an antimicrobal agent such as sodium sorbate. The thus soaked beans are then dried to about a 10% moisture content.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,681 describes a shelf stable semi-moist food product of meats, fruits and vegetables. Cooked fruits and vegetables are initially dehydrated to a moisture content of 3-7% and in a separate step are subsequently rehydrated in an excess amount of solution containing at least 5% of a polyhydric alcohol, salt, water, propylene glycol and potassium sorbate, until the moisture content of the beans is in the range of 20-40%. The product is then packaged as is.
Salts employed in a special rehydrating medium may provide tenderization or promote flavor qualities in the final product while providing little realistic stability. In addition, most of these processes require relatively low and, in some cases, minimal final product moisture contents in order to achieve some form of product stability and shelf-life, i.e., non-deterioration. Unfortunately, the low moisture content is achieved at the expense of desirable food product texture. A further disadvantage of commercial significance is still a relatively long reconstituting time, i.e., food preparation time.
The present invention essentially overcomes these and other disadvantages associated with the production of known bean products.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to produce a shelf-stable pre-cooked partially hydrated bean food product without canning or retorting.
An additional object is to provide a process for producing an intermediate moisture quick-cook bean product requiring 15 minutes or less for the consumer to prepare.
Yet another object is to provide a process which produces intermediate moisture quick-cook beans having uniform cooked texture without splits or butterflies.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following more detailed description and appended claims.